Something Slender (and Awful) - Authority Figures

[x-daredevil.livejournal.com]

Tandy runs back to where they all left the van, and finds Jean-Phillipe enjoying his coffee and a book. She tries her best to convince him they're being stalked, but he sees right through her. Slendermen are an internet meme.



Jean-Phillipe liked days when the student trip into New York City had some kind of mandatory activity, because it meant that he could have some actual free time to himself in the city. This particular day, he had decided to park himself at a very good French patisserie that he and Marie-Ange had found, and catch up with some reading. He purchased a latte and croissant, and settled into one of the comfortable booths.

Tandy ran and looked into each store she passed until she saw Mr. Colbert inside one of them. Finally... The teenager looked around to make sure she wasn't being followed before heading inside. "Mr. Colbert! Mr. Colbert! We were attacked...by a very tall man with no face."

"Merde." Of course the moment he got settled in, one of the students would be along. Jean-Phillipe, on the occasions when he believed in a higher power, had the opinion that whatever higher power was out there had an entirely too nasty sense of humor. "Slow down and start over," he told the out-of-breath Tandy.

Tandy closed her eyes and took a deep breath in and out, "Hope, Topaz and I were at this tea place when we all heard a tapping on a window. We looked over and there was this thing.. guy in a suit......it happened so fast. He had no face and it just generally creeped us out. Then we saw one at the back of the store. I am telling you it was tall, no face nothing! We got the hell out of there, because I am not going to stay in there with a guy... in a suit... with NO FACE!" She got a little loud but quiet down and continued on. "We just left to go find the others, when we noticed it was following us. I don't know what it was and so I came to find you and tell you. There is something out there in the city! And it is stalking us!"

Jean-Phillipe sighed in a put-upon way, and slowly put a bookmark in his book. "Tandy, I may not be as 'from the internet' as you or Sarah, but I am familiar with most things on it. I even know what the 'Reddit' and the '4-Chan' are." Granted, from the way he said the names of the sites, in a distasteful sort of way, he didn't spend much time on them due to their unsavory sort of reputations. "That sounds exactly like a Slenderman, and those are made up."

"Slenderman." The teenager repeated, she knew they had a name but couldn't place it. Now it all made sense, but shit she thought they were only an internet meme as well. "I know what I saw. Topaz and Hope saw the same thing! I swear it."

Jean-Phillipe very patiently set his book on the table and took a drink of his coffee, seeming almost bored. "Tandy, do not be ridiculous. Every one of those pictures and videos of 'Slendermen' is fabricated."

"I am not talking about pictures or videos! I am talking about real life. I saw them with my own two eyes! How can you be so calm? This is serious and I am coming to you for help." Tandy started to get upset with the adult that just seemed to think she was making stuff up.

"I am calm because you are being ridiculous, and claiming to have seen something that does not exist." Jean-Phillipe set his coffee down and pulled his book back to him, opening it to where he had left off.

Tandy had the look as if she was about to cry, "What is the point of being the responsible adult when you don't even listen to us!? If ones of us gets hurt I am never forgiving you!" With that the teenager turned on her heels and stormed out of the place furious and hurt that he called her ridiculous. "We are on our own. Lets find the others."



Matt tries to call back to the mansion, and has no better luck, because on the other end of the phone is Jennie Stavros, and a tiny little kitchen fire.



With everything going on, or not depending on your point of view, since everyone agreed that something was happening, but no idea what, Matt pulled his cell phone out and fit the ear piece in his ear before scrolling to find the mansion number. Dialing, he waited for some one to pick up.

At the mansion, several things were in the process of happening. One, while attempting to fry bacon, a grease fire had suddenly happened in the kitchen. Two, because it was at a certain point in the month and her powers being what they were, Jennie (who happened to be frying said bacon for a BLT) when attempting to blot out the first fire, somehow managed to cause a second small fire.

And then the phone rang.

"Hello?" Matt said when it stopped ringing, it sounded like someone had picked up, but instead of saying something, there were just strange noises in the background. Without knowing who had picked up or which phone, it was hard to decipher what the noises meant, "Hello? Did someone pick up the phone?"

"Yes, yes, one moment," Jennie said, brandishing a pot lid and waving it at the smoke. Please God, don't let the smoke detectors go off. "Hello? Xavier's Inst--- Oh Dear God."

This was clearly a bad time. "This is Matt," he said to the unfamiliar voice on the other end, "Who's this?"

Matt...Matt.One of the students? "The dance teacher-- FUCK!" Jennie said as she finally put a lid on one of the burners. She shook out her hand, sighing. Before another burner burst into flame. "Oh for the love of--"

The dance teacher? Wasn't Mr. Sefton the dance teacher? He was when Matt had taken it. "Can I talk to someone in charge?" he finally asked, annoyed. This was serious, dammit!

Jennie felt her own irritation grow. "What do you need, Matt?" she said, wincing as the smoke alarm went off.

Sighing and holding the phone away from his ear since the alarms were going off now, he replied, "Something weird's going on. I don't know what, Sue doesn't see much, but I smell this weird scent and it's following us in this diner and it just....it's really creepy feeling," and when he put it like that it sounded absolutely ridiculous, but that didn't change that they both felt absolutely creeped out and disturbed.

"Matt-- I'm sorry hon, you're breaking up," Jennie said, plugging her other ear and pressing the receiver harder to the other, as if that could make the signal clearer.

Hanging up, Matt turned to Sue, "No go," he replied, "They're apparently having Issues or something and then the reception went bad," he could feel the alarm pounding in his head still.

"Issues?" Sue questioned before the noise of the diner's opening door caused her to jump and cast a dark look back at the building they'd just exited. "Let's jsut get outta here, maybe the problems will be sorted out by the time we get home."

"Minor crisis, I think," Matt replied, pushing the feelings away, "Yeah. Let's do that."